# Trump threatens political opponents **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [March 14, 2019, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-threatens-political-opponents/831149 "2019-03-14T20:30:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-threatens-political-opponents/831149/1 "2019-03-14T20:30:57Z")
He has the police and military behind him. He might call out the Bikers for Trump! I guess this is really just another day at the office for him. [Trump's thuggish threat of violence against his critics | CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/14/opinions/trumps-thuggish-threat-of-violence-against-his-critics-lockhart/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-threatens-political-opponents/831149/2 "2019-03-14T22:05:57Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > He has the police and military behind him. He might call out the Bikers for Trump! > > I guess this is really just another day at the office for him. > > [https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/14/opinions/trumps-thuggish-threat-of-violence-against-his-critics-lockhart/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/14/opinions/trumps-thuggish-threat-of-violence-against-his-critics-lockhart/index.html) Your link is CLEARLY labelled an opinion piece. Do you have a factual cite? ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-threatens-political-opponents/831149/3 "2019-03-14T22:15:54Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > Your link is CLEARLY labelled an opinion piece. Do you have a factual cite? [Try this,](https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/03/12/exclusive-trump-on-campus-free-speech-executive-order-were-going-to-do-a-very-big-number-probably-next-week/), a Breitbart exclusive. Now I need to go take a shower in scalding-hot alcohol… 😛 ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-threatens-political-opponents/831149/4 "2019-03-14T22:26:58Z")
So the SDMB is accepting Breitbart as factual, now? Good to know! ---
**Author:** ![RickG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rickg/32/5174_2.png) [@RickG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickG)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-threatens-political-opponents/831149/5 "2019-03-14T22:31:22Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > Your link is CLEARLY labelled an opinion piece. Do you have a factual cite? It is an opinion piece, but it pulls a quote from a Breitbart interview with Trump. It compares that statement with one Sen. Jesse Helms made about Clinton that resulted in a lot of blowback (and a Secret Service investigation). The _opinion_ is that Trump has driven our politics (further) into the gutter. The _fact_ is the actual quote from Trump: > [@President Donald J. Trump](#): > > I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of Bikers for Trump – I have tough people, but they don’t play it tough until they go to a certain point and then it would be very, very bad. That’s not an _explicit_ threat, but it surely is an _implicit_ one. At best, it’s highly unbecoming of the POTUS to talk like that. At worst, it bleeds over into “who will relieve me of this troublesome priest” territory. ---
**Author:** ![Dacien](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dacien/32/5663_2.png) [@Dacien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dacien)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-threatens-political-opponents/831149/6 "2019-03-14T22:31:43Z")
I remember reading about when the president physically threatened a Washington Post reporter because he didn’t like a review that was published. President Truman, that is. Is it good? Of course not. But anyone acting like Trump has brought politics to a new low needs to remember politics has always been low. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-threatens-political-opponents/831149/7 "2019-03-14T22:32:57Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > So the SDMB is accepting Breitbart as factual, now? > > Good to know! If you are unclear on the subtle interplay between facts and opinions, and how an opinion piece may contain facts, that’s pretty amazing. Thank you for sharing that! Now back to the thread. ---
**Author:** ![RickG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rickg/32/5174_2.png) [@RickG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickG)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-threatens-political-opponents/831149/8 "2019-03-14T22:47:05Z")
> [@Dacien](#): > > I remember reading about when the president physically threatened a Washington Post reporter because he didn’t like a review that was published. > > President Truman, that is. > > Is it good? Of course not. But anyone acting like Trump has brought politics to a new low needs to remember politics has always been low. There are two differences between Truman’s threat and Trump’s. First, Truman’s threat was personal, not political–the bad review was of a vocal performance by Truman’s daughter–against a single individual. Second, he threatened to beat the guy up himself. Trump basically threatened his political opponents as a group with violence by proxy, including the _ **military** _. He’s not the kind of guy to do the dirty work himself. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-threatens-political-opponents/831149/9 "2019-03-15T00:11:54Z")
> [@RickG](#): > > … That’s not an _explicit_ threat, but it surely is an _implicit_ one. At best, it’s highly unbecoming of the POTUS to talk like that. At worst, it bleeds over into “who will relieve me of this troublesome priest” territory. > [@RickG](#): > > … Trump basically threatened his political opponents as a group with violence by proxy, including the _ **military** _. He’s not the kind of guy to do the dirty work himself. It certainly lends credibility to Michael Cohen’s remarks about Trump’s indirect way of getting people to do what he wants: > [@](#): > > Mr. Trump did not directly tell me to lie to Congress. That’s not how he operates. > > In conversations we had during the campaign, at the same time I was actively negotiating in Russia for him, he would look me in the eye and tell me there’s no business in Russia and then go out and lie to the American people by saying the same thing. In his way, he was telling me to lie. > **[Read Michael Cohen's opening statement here](https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/27/michael-cohen-read-the-statement-about-donald-trump-here.html)** > > President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen is poised to deliver an explosive testimony before Congress on Wednesday. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-threatens-political-opponents/831149/10 "2019-03-15T03:44:14Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > If you are unclear on the subtle interplay between facts and opinions, and how an opinion piece may contain facts, that’s pretty amazing. Thank you for sharing that! Now back to the thread. I know when an opinion piece contains unverified facts. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-threatens-political-opponents/831149/11 "2019-03-15T03:52:07Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > Your link is CLEARLY labelled an opinion piece. Do you have a factual cite? There’s an accompanying video at the same link in which Anderson Cooper interviews Mr. Lockhart (the author of the piece) and Cooper seems to accept that Trump actually said the remarks attributed to him. Did you somehow miss this? It’s right there at the top of the page. If you think one or both of them is wrong or lying, you are welcome to provide specific evidence that this is so. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-threatens-political-opponents/831149/12 "2019-03-15T04:44:42Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > There’s an accompanying video at the same link in which Anderson Cooper interviews Mr. Lockhart (the author of the piece) and Cooper seems to accept that Trump actually said the remarks attributed to him. And Robin Roberts seemed to accept what Jussie Smollet said. We know how that’s turning out. > [@](#): > > If you think one or both of them is wrong or lying, you are welcome to provide specific evidence that this is so. That’s not how it works. The person making the claim, Mr. Lockhart, and by extension, the OP, have to back up their claims, not just throw shit out there. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-threatens-political-opponents/831149/13 "2019-03-15T05:29:55Z")
Well, I can see then that Trump still has the Mierdas touch, in this case it can even turn any trust that a right winger might had about Breitbart into shit. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-threatens-political-opponents/831149/14 "2019-03-15T09:08:07Z")
_He didn’t say what he said and someone entirely different said something else once upon a time!_ Please keep these pathetic and ridiculous attempts at spin coming. Pretty soon we’ll be told that Trump isn’t actually the president all the time. Just certain times. Not during interviews. Or on Thursdays. JUSSIE SMOLLETT1!!1!!! ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-threatens-political-opponents/831149/15 "2019-03-15T11:28:32Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > That’s not how it works. The person making the claim, Mr. Lockhart, and by extension, the OP, have to back up their claims, not just throw shit out there. The ‘claim’, if any, is that Trump made remarks that appear to threaten political opponents, during an interview with Breitbart. The facts seem to support this. You, OTOH, seem to be arguing that Breitbart made up the Trump quote. You must have some reason for doing so. Let’s hear it. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-threatens-political-opponents/831149/16 "2019-03-15T11:59:31Z")
So that we can skip over all the silliness about the source of the information, here are the actual words Trump said: “I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of Bikers for Trump – I have tough people, but they don’t play it tough until they go to a certain point and then it would be very, very bad.” That seems entirely reasonable to criticize as an implied threat of violence. No one can read minds, so we have to evaluate words… and I think it’s reasonable to see these words as an implied threat of violence. If Trump meant something else he should withdraw these words and apologize. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-threatens-political-opponents/831149/17 "2019-03-15T12:04:47Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > The ‘claim’, if any, is that Trump made remarks that appear to threaten political opponents, during an interview with Breitbart. The facts seem to support this. You, OTOH, seem to be arguing that Breitbart made up the Trump quote. You must have some reason for doing so. Let’s hear it. He has a strict policy to discount anything reported by the right-wing media unless it’s corroborated by HuffPo, Democracy Now! and _Mother Jones_. ---
**Author:** ![Covfefe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee7513/32.png) [@Covfefe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covfefe)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-threatens-political-opponents/831149/18 "2019-03-15T12:06:11Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > The ‘claim’, if any, is that Trump made remarks that appear to threaten political opponents, during an interview with Breitbart. The facts seem to support this. You, OTOH, seem to be arguing that Breitbart made up the Trump quote. You must have some reason for doing so. Let’s hear it. The quote seems to fit Trump’s speaking style and he has made similar statements as president that appear to be indirect threats in the way a narcissistic parent trying to emotionally blackmail a child would, so much so that my reaction when I heard was to wonder if there weren’t several other items happening yesterday of greater significance. I can’t stop laughing. This is just too funny, the idea Breitbart would fabricate such a quote. ---
**Author:** ![Covfefe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee7513/32.png) [@Covfefe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covfefe)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-threatens-political-opponents/831149/19 "2019-03-15T12:27:42Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > So that we can skip over all the silliness about the source of the information, here are the actual words Trump said: > > “I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of Bikers for Trump – I have tough people, but they don’t play it tough until they go to a certain point and then it would be very, very bad.” > > That seems entirely reasonable to criticize as an implied threat of violence. No one can read minds, so we have to evaluate words… and I think it’s reasonable to see these words as an implied threat of violence. If Trump meant something else he should withdraw these words and apologize. I would be floored if he clarified what he meant or apologized. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-threatens-political-opponents/831149/20 "2019-03-15T12:42:12Z")
> [@Covfefe](#): > > The quote seems to fit Trump’s speaking style and he has made similar statements as president that appear to be indirect threats in the way a narcissistic parent trying to emotionally blackmail a child would, so much so that my reaction when I heard was to wonder if there weren’t several other items happening yesterday of greater significance. > > I can’t stop laughing. This is just too funny, the idea Breitbart would fabricate such a quote. Yeah, the whole notion is silly beyond words, and I’m truly sorry for my part in extending D’Anconia’s ridiculous attempted hijack. Regarding the actual thread subject, it is rather telling that so much utter nonsense spews out of Trump’s piehole on a daily basis that this near-incitement to riot only slightly rises above the background noise. As with so many other of Trump’s statements, it is amusing to imagine the reaction if Obama had ever suggested that he had the support of, say, Black Lives Matter and that they would have no choice but to ‘play it tough’ if provoked. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-threatens-political-opponents/831149.md?page=2)